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Warrior

We decided to do Warrior this week, partly because I had a quest to win 5 games with Warrior. Warrior is the class I’ve played the least. When I went to look at Warrior decks to make, besides having a ton of cards I didn’t own, the decklists I found were… boring. But then I made my Pyromassacre deck, and have been having a blast with Warrior since. (Not a lot of wins, but lots of fun!)

The Warrior’s hero is Garrosh Hellscream (whom I don’t like!) who was Warchief of the Horde before the Siege of Orgrimmar. His hero ability is called “Armor Up!” which “Gains 2 armor”. This is essentially a way for you to gain extra health. Having the ability to gain armor allows you to be more efficient with Weapons, since it protects your from losing health when attacking enemy minions.

The Warrior class is based on two main components: Charge minions, and Weapons. It is a class that often fits nicely with the “Enrage” mechanic.

Combos

Let’s go over some of the combos for Warriors.

One card that is used a lot in combos is Cruel Taskmaster. (2 cost 2/2/ Battlecry: “Deal 1 damage to a minion and give it +2 attack) you can either use him to buff one of your other minions (Works great with “Enrage”) or to damage an enemy minion.

Cards like Whirlwind that does 1 damage to ALL minions works great with minions that benefit from taking damage (Frothing berzerker, Armorsmith, Acolyte of Pain, etc)

If you have Grommash Hellscream, using the Cruel Taskmaster on him work great.

Another combo that I discovered this week is Wild Pyromancer + Commanding Shout (2 mana, Your minions cannot be reduced below 1 health this turn) . That way you don’t have to worry about your Pyromancer’s health when clearing the board. It also allows you to benefit even more from your minions that benefit from taking damage.

Special Cards

Since the Warrior is very much an aggressive class, most of the cards that are class specific are all about doing direct damage.

Cleave (2 mana, Deal 2 damage to two random enemy minions) – This card is similar to the Hunter’s Multi-Shot, which does 3 damage.

Slam (2 mana, Deal 2 damage to a minion. If it survives, draw a card) – With this card, it’s not just a direct damage spell but also card draw.

Whirlwind (1 mana, Deal 1 damage to ALL minions) – Decent removal spell but better if you can get some spell damage on the board prior to using it. It’s more useful when used in combination with the Armorsmith (2 mana, 1/ 4 minion, Whenever a minion takes damage, gain 1 armor) or Frothing berserker (3 mana, 2/4 minion, Whenever a minion takes damage, gain +1 attack)

Mortal Strike (4 mana, Deal 4 damage. If your hero has 12 or less health, deal 6 damage instead.) – This is a card that one tends to hold until you can get the 6 damage.

Upgrade! (1 mana, If you have a weapon, give it +1/+1. Otherwise equip a 1/ 3 weapon.) – I didn’t pay this card much attention in the past, but in the deck I’ve been playing this week it’s been quite useful. This week I used two of them to upgrade a Fiery War Axe (2 mana, 3/2 weapon) to a 5/4 weapon. Which was annoying to my opponent since he didn’t have an acidic swamp ooze.

Gorehowl (Epic, 7 mana, 7/1 weapon, Attacking a minion costs 1 attack instead of 1 durability) – This at first looks to be a lousy weapon, but when you understand that it reduces the attack each time you use it, it adds up to a big number. Yes, that’s 28 potential points of damage from this weapon.

Grommash Hellscream (Legendary, 8 mana, 4/9 minion, Charge, Enrage: +6 attack) – I don’t have him but I have played him a few times when I can Faceless it or steal it with a Priest. He’s a huge threat on the board and has to be dealt with.

Warrior in Arena

Warrior tends to play even more aggressively in Arena. The primary focus you will want to go after in Arena is strong, fast damage against your opponent. One advantage you have with the Warrior is the ability to add shields to yourself. Use that frequently so that you can mitigate any damage you take.

Here are some Warrior cards that are good to pick.

Arathi Weaponsmith – A great minion for the Arena. You get a pretty good minion and you get a 2/2 weapon.

Arcanite Reaper – This is a massive weapon that can be used to power the minions you have that benefit from the weapon damage, like the Bloodsail Raider (2 mana, 2/ 3 minion, Battlecry: Gain Attack equal to the Attack of your weapon).

Cruel Taskmaster – One of the nice dual use cards that lets you boost your own minions or can be used to kill off weak minions on your opponents side.

Fiery War Axe – An inexpensive weapon that’s great for the early game clearing.

Frothing Berserker – The key to this minion is remembering to play it BEFORE you do a bunch of damage to minions. You’ll appreciate it more if you do.

Grommash Hellscream – A late game threat that if not dealt with quickly can cause all kinds of problems for your opponent. And worse if you use Cruel Taskmaster with it.

Gorehowl – The best weapon a Warrior can find. Highly recommended to grab it if you see it in the Arena. Just remember that you will be taking damage when you use it against minions.

Kor’kron Elite – Quite a powerful minion that has charge, which can be extremely useful anytime in the game. I’d recommend to grab many of them if you can.

Warsong Commander – A great way to boost the power of your cheaper minions by adding charge.

This deck isn’t meant to take you all the way to Legend, but it is a good one to build when you are just starting out in Hearthstone. The guide for this deck has an “Upgrade” section to help you replace cards as you earn them, as well as videos playing this deck against each of these classes.

Tournaments

Reviews and Emails

Outro

That does it for this episode. You can email the show at info@legendoftheinnkeeper.com. You can also visit our website at legendoftheinnkeeper.com where we will post the show notes with the episode that has links to all the information we discussed.

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2 Comments

I agree that Warrior is a tough class to begin with. It is the class that I chose when I started playing because Grommash was the first Legendary I opened. I was focused on Enrage and didn’t have much luck winning. Enrage is so powerful that your opponent won’t let you get your combos started and you fall behind quickly. Once I learned how to use armor and weapons to my advantage, I had much more success. I rarely win as an aggro Warrior, I have much better luck trying to control the board and smacking the opponent late game after their deck has run out of steam. Similar to the SHAH-men. (Not SHAY-man)

Nice dig at the end! I’m wondering if the Warrior class is going to need some attention by Blizzard sometime in the future. Clearly after this episode I see a severe lack in interest in the class. Hmm…